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In September, Deerhunter released their fourth LP, Halcyon Digest. In typically unconventional style, the band announced the album's release with an interactive xerox art project and the launch of website, www.halcyondigest.com.

For the album's launch, lead singer Bradford Cox designed a flyer by hand in the cut-and-paste style of his new-wave heroes and asked fans to print it out, photocopy it, and paste it around town – in their favorite independent record store, co-op, bedroom, library, etc. Designed to engage fans, the project also fittingly reflected the intimate and emotionally engaging qualities of Halcyon Digest. The video for the album's lead track, 'Helicopter', was a further extension of this aesthetic, with Bradford singing straight into the camera shrouded in ghost like shadows and enigmatic black and white footage.

With such a fine attention detail, it was unsurprising that Halcyon Digest was received so warmly by fans and critics alike. Deerhunter have always found favour in the press, but on this album the response seemed to eclipse their previous achievements, this time the songwriting of Lockett Pundt revered as highly as Bradford's. Indeed, it was the Lockett-penned 'Desire Lines' that surprised most, with its chugging intensity and ebullient outro. Pitchfork took note, positioning it highly in their tracks of the year poll.

If the fan-focused nature of the album's release suggested Deerhunter's roots still lay firmly in the underground, 2010 was also the year they spread their net wider to reach a new audience. In November, they made their national television debut on The Conan O'Brien Show, while further sessions were also recorded for Pitchfork and Spinner's Interface series, the later including a coruscating near-18 minute rendition (below) of 'Helicopter' segueing into 'He Would Have Laughed'. In amongst all of this hard work, Bradford also found time to home record four volumes worth of demo tracks in as many days under his Atlas Sound moniker, all of which were made available for free via his blog

On the back of such a successful year, Deerhunter plan to approach 2011 in similar uncompromising fashion. Starting in Japan in late January as part of the 4AD showcases, the band will be touring the world all the way through to April, providing more opportunity for fans to witness their dazzling live show in the flesh.